Nothing As It Seems
by Demosthenes23
Summary: Takes place right after Murdoch Goes Bump in the Night.
1. Fallout

Murdoch was very uncomfortable with this revelation. "I'm going to go check on Ben."

When he stood up and no one tried to stop him, (indeed neither sister even seemed to notice he had spoken, Julia was simply staring at Ruby open mouthed), he continued out of the room, feeling extremely relieved once more. Since he had nothing else to do he figured he might as well do what he had said he was going to do, so it was up the stairs with him. He pushed open the door slowly, silently, and was pleased to note that his son was still fast asleep, even after the unusual events of the evening.

Oh to be young, he thought, smiling. That boy can sleep through anything.

Since he really didn't want to go back downstairs he went into the master bedroom and looked for something to do. When he couldn't find anything, he began pacing back and forth, his thoughts unintentionally coming back to that which he had purposely tried to avoid.

Ruby pregnant? What a terrible state of affairs! To be with child out of wedlock was one of the worst sins a woman could commit! But he wasn't going to condone her for all eternity, after all it took two to accomplish this most undesirable of goals and besides that, his wife had been in a similar situation herself once upon a time. And since Murdoch prided himself on not being a hypocrite, that was the end of such thoughts, the circumstances were what they were, this had nothing to do with him. At least, that's what he tried to tell himself. The problem was, given who the mother was and who the father most certainly was, there was _no_ way he wasn't going to get sucked into this mess. With that thought in mind, he sighed and headed back downstairs so that he could give moral support to the two distraught women.

_Better late than never._

By the time he arrived in the kitchen again, the sisters were embracing and Ruby had ceased to shed tears. They parted when they saw him and looked at him quizzically.

"Have you been gone this whole time?" asked Julia, slightly annoyed, releasing her hold on her sister.

Murdoch tried not to look as guilty as he felt when he said, "I thought it best that I leave, given the...topic."

"Oh William," said Ruby in a surprisingly chipper voice considering her utter woe only minutes ago, "you're such a baby!" That last word registered a split second after she said it and it appeared she might start crying again but she mastered her emotions and hurriedly changed the topic. "Oh heavens me!" she said fake yawning, "Am I ever tired!" She started walking away from them, saying, "I'll be in the guest room if anyone needs me."

"Did you invite her to stay here?" he asked as they watched her leave.

"What do you think, William?" responded Julia, slightly bemused. "Ruby simply does whatever she wants. But tonight I'm inclined to let her get away with it."

"As am I."

Julia turned to face him, placing a hand to his chest and said, "It's clear that you have no desire to be part of this unfortunate situation and I don't blame you but I'd very much appreciate it if you would. Ruby is a hand full at the best of times, I shudder to think how she will behave given her current...condition."

He took her hand in his and said, "I of course will help you in whatever way I can, Julia." She smiled warmly at him and they kissed briefly. "I'm sorry for leaving earlier, I shouldn't have done that."

"It's okay, William." She smirked, "If we didn't even notice you were gone, I suppose your presence wasn't exactly required."

Murdoch smiled slightly. "No I suppose not." There was silence for a moment. "Did she tell you who the father is?"

"Yes but you don't need me to tell you who. I'm sure you can hazard a guess if you haven't already done so, it's not hard."

_Oh boy._

"I'm sure I also don't need to tell you that it would be best to keep this under wraps for as long as possible. Or at least until Ruby is ready to share this information with others."

"What about George? Surely he has a right to know?"

"Of course he does, William, but, well, Ruby needs some time to work up the nerve to tell him."

_This must be the first time she has ever shied away from something!_

"I see. I'll do my best to hold my tongue."

"Thank you, William."

Murdoch didn't particularly want to do Ruby any favours but at the same time, it wasn't his place to interfere in such matters. So for now he would abide by their wishes.

Needless to say, he was _not _looking forward to going into work tomorrow morning. Sooner or later, George _would_ learn of Ruby's presence in Toronto and it wouldn't be long after that before he knew everything. And then what?

* * *

The next day felt like it would go on forever. Murdoch kept checking his pocket watch and was dismayed to find the seconds ticking by slower and slower every time he did. To make matters worse, there was no current case or invention to distract his thoughts and eventually Brackenreid noticed his anxious manner and called him into his office. When he passed by their desks, (and even in Murdoch's current frame of mind), he noticed that something was amiss with George. He seemed to be very agitated himself but thankfully it didn't appear to have anything to do with the baby. For some reason George kept stealing glances at Higgins as if he wanted to say something to him but couldn't work up the courage. Whatever that was about, Murdoch didn't have the foggiest.

"Close the door, Murdoch." He did. "I couldn't help but notice you seem distressed. Are you concerned for Ben's safety? Do you want me to post a constable outside your house for piece of mind? After we got Bobby back, I needed to do this so I completely understand if that's what's worrying you. Just say the word, me old mucker, and it's done."

"No, that is not the issue, sir, but thank you for the consideration."

"Then what's the problem, Murdoch?" he enquired, confusedly. "Why do you appear to have ants in your pants?"

"Well," said Murdoch slowly, "I'd like to tell you, sir, but it's not my place to say. It's a rather sensitive matter."

Brackenreid raised his eyebrows at that and then chuckled. "What, is this some sort of woman's intrigue?" Murdoch regarded him impassively. "It is, isn't it? Let me guess, one of Julia's friends had an affair!" Murdoch continued to give nothing away. "No? Well if not that then I bet someone's pregnant who shouldn't be!" Murdoch's eyes widened involuntarily and he prayed the inspector hadn't noticed. He laughed again, "I'm right aren't I? Who's the unlucky bloke?" Again Murdoch seemed to have no control over his body. His eyes darted sideways towards George and Higgins. It was only for a second but Brackenreid followed the lightening fast movement.

"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed. "Are you telling me one of those two clowns is going to have a child?"

"No, sir," said Murdoch hastily, "I haven't told you anything." Then he promptly left and prayed Brackenreid had enough common sense to not mention this to his wife. Though he wasn't sure it mattered at this point. If Margaret caught even a whiff of gossip from her husband's direction, she would use her vast connections to try and find out what the secret was (assuming she couldn't get it out of him) and if she succeeded, word of this pregnancy would spread throughout the city like wildfire. And he hated to think what such a scandal would do to George's reputation. This was worst case scenario though, he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Finally the work day was at an end and Murdoch hurried to gather his things together so that he could high tail it out of there. He had forgotten how tiring and difficult it was to be the keeper of secrets. It had been a long time since he had had to withhold information from anyone. The last time he could recall one causing him so much discontent was when he came back from the Yukon. He had desperately wanted to confess his sins in relation to the jailbreak but Brackenreid wouldn't let him. And then he had desperately wanted to tell Julia why he never came to the wedding but he could never justify it after she had been married for many months already. What was the point in bringing up a painful topic that would lead to nowhere?

He hoped with time this burden would be much easier to bear, just like the previous ones. Either that or he no longer had to keep the secret. It would be very easy to accomplish this right now. All he had to do was call George into his office and tell him he was a father. But if he did that, Brackenreid would see and know the truth and that worst case scenario would become a reality. And besides which, George still seemed to be perturbed by something else altogether. There was no need to add to this.

With his things together, he was about to leave when he saw George head towards the side exit. He rarely ever went out that way so Murdoch's interest was peaked and he followed him, making sure Brackenreid was not watching lest he get any ideas into his head. He thought he had lost him when he heard voices around the corner, where there was a dead end alleyway. He fully planned to leave right away as it would be rude to eavesdrop but when he heard _who_ was speaking, he found he couldn't.

"...tell him yet?" asked a woman's voice. Murdoch had heard it many times before. It was Dr. Grace!

"No, I'm sorry," said George, "I couldn't bring myself to."

She laughed and said, "I don't know what you're so afraid of, George. Henry and I broke up a long time ago. He's not going to mind. He's going to be happy for you."

"I'm not so sure about that," he said anxiously.

"You worry too much," she said. "Let me put your mind at ease."

There was the unmistakeable sound of kissing and Murdoch stood there horrified. Things just kept getting more and more complicated! And now he was privy to yet another secret he didn't want! _Serves me right for eavesdropping! I should have known better!_

Now he dreaded going home, knowing full well that Ruby would be there just waiting to crack him open like an egg. If anything, she was even worse than Margaret when it came to getting to the bottom of things. Her reporter instincts had always been killer and he didn't see why this time would be any different. But it was.

All through dinner, Ruby didn't seem to have any clue that he was hiding something from her. This was particularly odd as even Julia had caught on immediately to his distracted manner. Ruby seemed just as oblivious to the goings on as Ben was and she didn't have the excuse of being preoccupied with playing with her food. Then again, she was paying Ben an awful lot of attention so maybe it wasn't so surprising after all.

Julia took Murdoch aside later and asked him about it. He certainly didn't want to be a gossip and burden her with something she'd likely feel compelled to tell her sister but found he couldn't help himself.

"George is courting Dr. Grace," he blurted out.

Julia raised her eyebrows at that. "And how did you come to know this?"

Murdoch gave her a guilty expression. "I happened to overhear it."

"Really, William?" she said, laughing, "I never took you for an eavesdropper."

"This isn't funny, Julia."

"It is a little." He stared at her seriously. "All right, it isn't at all but what can we really do about this new development? George was well within his rights to start courting again. He made no promises to my sister. They were not engaged. She saw to that quite thoroughly."

"I would say being intimate with one another counts as a binding contract, especially now that there is a baby on the way. Let us put an end to this farce and bring them together to discuss their future. Though I suppose there isn't much _to_ discuss."

"What do you mean?"

"I would have thought it was obvious, Julia. They must get married. The sooner the better."

"Oh really?" she said, clearly annoyed. "_I_ didn't marry the man I had relations with back in university."

"That was different. You were not in love with each other."

"And what makes you so certain that _they_ still are?"

Murdoch was shocked by this question. It had never once occurred to him."Are you saying they _aren't_?"

"What are you two conspiring about so seriously?" said Ruby from nearby, when only moments before she had been intently playing with Ben in the living room.

"Oh nothing at _all_," said Julia and she stormed off.

Ruby stared at Murdoch curiously so before she could question him, he grabbed Ben and said it was time for his weekly bath. Ben squirmed and tried to get away but Murdoch easily tucked the kicking boy under his armpit and carried him to the tub.

For the first time ever, Julia went to bed angry at her husband. He had tried to smooth things over with her previously but she flat out refused to talk to him. He didn't understand why she was behaving so irrationally in this regard but in the end it was her prerogative and that was that.


	2. Mr Radley

In the morning he awoke to find Julia had already left for work, at least he assumed this was the case. Ruby had still not gotten out of bed so there was no one else to ask and she hadn't left a note saying otherwise. So it was that it was up to Murdoch to take Ben to the catholic school (St. Bartholomew's) attached to his church without her.

"Where's mommy?" asked Ben as they made their way there, small mitten hand in larger gloved hand.

"I believe she's at work."

"How come she didn't wait for us?"

He didn't want to lie to him and besides which he didn't believe in coddling his son too much so he said, "She's mad at me."

Having never heard this before Ben's eyes grew wide and he said,"Why?"

"I said something that upset her."

"What?"

Here was were he drew the line. Ben wouldn't have understood anyways. "It was a grown up matter that I can't discuss with you."

"Why?"

"You're too young to understand."

"How do you know?"

Murdoch smiled at his inquisitive son and said, "You're right, I don't know."

There was silence for a moment. "So are you gonna tell me or what?"

Murdoch laughed and said, "No, son, I'm afraid I can't do that. We can resume this conversation in about...thirteen years."

Ben stopped moving, removed his hand from his father's grasp, took off his mittens and began counting. His eyes got wide again as he realized how far away that was. But all he said was, "You promise?"

"I promise."

Once Ben was safely deposited at the school, Murdoch found himself standing there by himself for the first time in a long time, just staring at the church. When he came here for mass every Sunday (assuming he didn't have to work), his entire family would come with him. Julia didn't believe in anything that was said but considering she had made a bad impression on the priest here before their marriage (at another church), she somehow felt obligated to make it up to her husband. Or maybe she simply thought she was proving something to the priest by being there. Murdoch didn't know. He was just glad that she came.

There had been some rumblings about a non-Catholic attending mass in the beginning but after a while that had died down. No doubt this was in large part due to her presence at her son's baptism. This was necessary because the Murdoch's couldn't find any record of him ever being baptized by his birth parents. That wasn't to say that he hadn't been but better to be safe than sorry (especially when the priest required it in order for Ben to go to school there).

And then randomly as if out of nowhere, his thoughts found those of Liza. They had gone to this same church for almost a year before her illness took hold. Liza had been a beloved school teacher there for the entire time she worked there since moving to Toronto. If she had been alive today and had remained single (a requirement back then), he had no doubt in his mind that she would still be there, teaching his son the ways of the world. It was funny how things worked out.

* * *

When Murdoch entered the station house he was immediately approached by Higgins. Since George had been promoted a few days ago he was now expected to work his own cases, with his own constable under his watch. He would have been surprised that George wasn't working with Higgins except for the fact that he knew things that he shouldn't, ie. things in relation to a certain young pathologist. Murdoch supposed he wouldn't be seeing George as much as he used to and given the current situation, he was quite happy about this. It helped him to avoid temptation in divulging things that weren't his to divulge.

"Sir," said Higgins, smirking, "we've had several reports from Mr. Radley about trespassers at the old Hodgins property over the past few days."

Murdoch stifled a sigh. Mr. Radley was like the man who cried wolf. He was an extremely paranoid individual who was forever seeing things that weren't there. And the fact that it involved a supposed 'haunted house' didn't help matters in the slightest. As to why such a man lived beside it, Murdoch had learned a long time ago. Back in the days when he was still a constable, Mr. Radley had inherited his home from his parents, both of which had died tragically in a mugging gone wrong. Little did he know that the Hodgins property was home to a lively bunch of rebel rousers. They continuously had outrageous parties and it was this noise that Mr. Radley (and others) had initially complained about, prompting the constabulary to get involved. One day one of the parties got a little too out of hand and two members ended up dead, the result of a love triangle gone wrong (and too much alcohol). Ever since then, the place had supposedly become possessed with the spirits of the deceased and no one ever lived there again.

As the years went by, Mr. Radley's sickness of the mind grew and eventually he had become a shut in who never left his residence. No doubt all the violence that surrounded him contributed greatly to this turn of events. He was so fearful of leaving his home that he paid for all his food to be brought to him and left on his front door step.

"Did you investigate further?"

"Yes, sir, but no one appears to have been in there for a very long time."

"And he's asked to speak with me?"

"Yes, sir."

It was the usual deal then. For some reason only Murdoch seemed to be able to allay whatever fears this man had about whatever was troubling him. It had been this way ever since he had had the misfortune to respond to his initial complaint. Maybe it was because Murdoch was very patient and answered all of his questions in detail? Whatever the reason, he didn't particularly want to go all the way out there right now but seeing as he had no murder investigation to deal with, there was little else for him to do.

However, he thought it best to try and patch things up with his wife before this undoubtedly lengthy visit so he headed to the morgue. When there were no bodies, Julia would catch up on paper work or else teach med students some of the finer details of performing autopsies. As he entered her office and looked out to find no one there, he began to feel a sense of dread gnawing at him. Surely something hadn't happened to her? Why would someone kidnap Julia? What were the chances of that happening so soon after their son had been taken? Almost zero, he thought. But even so, the dread increased in intensity.

A thought occurred to him then and he couldn't believe that he had jumped to such dramatic conclusions right off the bat. Maybe she was simply in the outhouse? He headed outside to the back of the morgue and knocked on the wooden door, only to find that it wasn't latched and no one was within.

Could he have possibly just missed her? He went back into the morgue but she was still nowhere to be found. He racked his brain for someplace she could be. Coming up empty handed, he called his house.

"Operator, please give me 15 Fountaine St."

"One moment please," said the woman on the other line.

"Hello," said Ruby groggily after the fourth ring, apparently just awakening now.

"Ruby, is your sister there?" He tried to ask this non-nonchalantly but she picked up on his tone regardless, even in her current state.

"Why do you ask, William. What's happened?"

"Possibly nothing but I can't seem to locate her."

"What do you mean?" Ruby said sharply.

"She left early in the morning before I got up and she didn't come to work. Do you have any idea where else she might have gone? Did she say anything to you last night?"

Silence. "No, I'm afraid she wasn't talking to me either. You two must have had quite the fight."

"That's the thing Ruby, we didn't. We disagreed on a certain matter but it wouldn't be cause for her to disappear like this."

"Did it have to do with me?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, William," she said sighing and he almost bought her apology. "I never meant to impose myself like this. No doubt my situation has brought back bad memories that Jules had long since buried. Or thought she had."

Before he could respond, the person in question entered the room. She looked at Murdoch quizzically and then became embarrassed, as if she only now understood what she had done. He was just relieved that she was okay.

"Never mind, Ruby, she's here now."

"Thank God."

He hung up and went over to her. Murdoch had fully intended to embrace her and say how happy he was that she was all right but then her guilty looks caused him to become angry with her behaviour.

"Julia, where have you been?" She didn't respond, looking away. "Julia, I think I deserve an answer." Still no response. "Our _son_ noted your absence this morning."

That got her attention and she looked up but she didn't respond in the way he had expected her to.

Placing her hands on her hips, she said in an annoyed manner, "Am I not allowed to go out on my own? I didn't realize that I had lost all freedom by marrying you."

He was stupefied by her words momentarily but quickly found his ground again. "I can't believe you would ever say such a thing! You know I was simply concerned for your well being!"

"Is it my fault that you worry too much?"

What was going on here? Even when she was experiencing that 'time of the month' she had never acted so meanly towards him. Was she suffering some sort of post traumatic stress disorder after having killed their son's kidnapper?

"How _dare_ you say that! We almost lost our son! How could I not worry at your disappearance?" She remained silent, folding her arms across her chest and he began shaking his head disbelieving at her manner. "Fine," he grumbled, "continue behaving like a child. I have work to do."

* * *

As he biked towards Starry Road, he found the cool breeze to be refreshing and had a soothing effect on his body and mind. This was the usual case whenever he partook in this particular brand of exercise. There was just something so exhilarating and freeing about cycling that nothing else could quite compare. Well, true he had been in a hot air balloon twice but the last time had put him off it for all time and it was no wonder considering he and Julia almost died. No he didn't want to think about her right now, he was just getting over his bewilderment and anger towards her, he would rather not have it not come back.

Leaning his bike against a tree, he walked up to the door and knocked quietly. Loud sounds never ceased to bother the owner of this residence. Murdoch knocked again, waiting patiently for the easily frightened man to make an appearance. Finally he did.

"Who is it?" he asked nervously through the heavy wooden door.

"Detective Murdoch," he said curtly.

"Prove it."

Murdoch sighed inwardly, removed his badge and slid it under the door. Nothing happened for several moments and then it slowly creaked open to reveal a startling white individual who would have been best friends with a ghost if he wasn't so terrified by them. It had been a few months since the last time Murdoch had come up here and he was slightly surprised to note that Radley's scraggly hair and long unkempt beard seemed to have gotten just as white as his complexion. This was odd to him because Radley wasn't a particularly old man, in fact he was about the same age as Murdoch (who still had a luscious head of dark brown hair). Could constant worry and fear turn a man's hair prematurely white?

"Please come in detective," he said handing him back his badge and gesturing towards the living room. "Would you care for a cup of tea? It seems to be extremely bracing out today."

It wasn't really but Radley had always been one to exaggerate. Though possibly to him it was very cold since he never left his house.

"Thank you, Mr. Radley. It was very kind of you to offer."

His host got busy in the kitchen and Murdoch observed the old familiar surroundings. The same, rusty chandelier hang from the centre of the room and appeared to have come a little more loose from it's sockets than the last time he was here. The piano was just as run down as ever, most of the keys were either cracked or missing altogether. The sofa's were still in pretty good condition with only minimal tearing. However, everything (with the exception of the sofa's) was covered in a thick coating of dust so that if you didn't know any better, you'd think _this_ house was the abandoned one. The only thing that might dispel a random passerby of this notion was the happily crackling fire. And the only reason Radley managed with such 'death traps' (as he liked to call them; the others included but were not limited to hot baths, knives, forks, scissors, razors, neck ties and boiling water) was that without the warmth, he would surely freeze to death in such a drafty old house. The fact that Radley was willing to risk horrific burns by making him tea meant that he was wanting a particularly large favour from Murdoch. So he braced himself for what was to come.

Mr. Radley returned with a tray that held only one cup of tea. Apparently though he had braved making the beverage for Murdoch, he was still not daring enough to actually drink such a dangerous thing himself. Murdoch graciously accepted the tea and sat down. As did his host. Murdoch blew on the tea and then hazarded a sip. He winced slightly as it was still too hot and he had burned his tongue.

Mr. Radley jumped to his feet and said, "Oh goodness gracious, detective! Are you all right?"

"I'm perfectly fine, Mr. Radley. There's nothing to worry about."

"But I thought-" he stopped talking when he saw Murdoch's expression and sat back down.

Murdoch put the tea aside and said, "Tell me about these trespassers, Mr. Radley."

"You believe me then?" he asked, ever hopeful.

Rather than fall into that well worn trap and set off a potential hissy fit he said, "These trespassers, what did they look like?"

"Well," said the man, glancing away, "to tell the truth I didn't actually see anyone," - he caught the slightly bemused look in the detective's eyes - "but I know someone's been in there!"

_I don't doubt you do. You are always certain you've seen something._

What he said was, "And why do you think that, Mr. Radley?"

"Because I've seen a light on! I think there are robbers in there!"

Murdoch raised his eyebrows at that. "Robbers, sir?"

"Yes, they are using the place as a hideout, biding their time and then when I least expect it, they will pounce and steal all of my belongings!" He impulsively clutched at the lamp beside his chair.

The only way Murdoch was going to get out of here any time soon was to offer his services.

"Would you like me to take a look around the property?"

"Ooh, yes please!" he said smiling widely. Murdoch got up to leave. "Do be careful, detective," he said anxiously, no trace of his previous jubilation, "I fear they are a dastardly lot!"

Murdoch nodded and was out the door.


	3. One In A Million

From outside, the Hodgins property looked much like it always had. A run down place with peeling paint and shingles and a few broken windows here and there. As he surveyed the grounds he was conscious of the fact that Mr. Radley was watching him through his bedroom window but he paid him no mind. Satisfied that nothing was amiss on the outside, he headed on in as he had done a few times before at Mr. Radley's behest. Again, everything looked as it should, with the exception of some foot prints that had disturbed the thick layer of dust here. But then when he hunched down and examined the boot prints, he remembered that Higgins had previously explored this area and indeed, they appeared to be police regulation. He went up the rickety old stairs on tip toe, slightly concerned that there could be a cave in but not really expecting one.

After he explored the upper reaches, and didn't find anything out of the ordinary, he decided to head back to inform Mr. Radley of his findings. He hoped the man would let it be and he would be free to attend to more personal matters. When he passed by one of the bedrooms he heard a sound, something like scratching. This was a bit unnerving to him because he recalled this was the room where the murders had taken place. Murdoch backtracked a few steps and pushed open the door slowly. The room seemed to be just the way it had been when he was in there a few minutes ago. He turned to leave and heard the same sound again. Murdoch headed on in but again couldn't determine the source of the sound. As he tried to leave yet again there was a crashing sound behind him. He jumped and then whirled around ready for anything but then had to laugh at himself a bit. All that had happened was a stray cat had gotten in through the upper window and knocked over a lantern on one of the nightstands.

Regardless, the black cat managed to unnerve him. It wasn't so much its eyes (though indeed, its black and blue pair were unusual and unusually piercing) but rather the last time he had come across one, it had led him to a body and a terrible series of events had unfolded shortly after.

"Shoo!" he said but it just sat there, contemplating him in silence. Louder this time,"I said shoo!"

It still didn't move and in an uncharacteristic manoeuvre, Murdoch kicked at it.

Finally the little creature skittered away, down the hallway. Soon it was out of sight as if it had never existed and he felt relieved once more. Murdoch followed suit and decided it was high time to leave here as well.

* * *

Needless to say, Mr. Radley was less than pleased by the revelation that nothing was amiss next door.

Frantically, before Murdoch could leave, he exclaimed, "Place a constable outside my door!"

_So this was the big favour he had been holding out for._

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mr. Radley. That would be a waste of police resources. As I told you before, you are perfectly safe."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" he asked suspiciously, surprising Murdoch. He had never questioned his judgement before.

"Would you like to come with me and see for yourself?"

Mr. Radley looked aghast. "No, no," he said gesticulating wildly, "that won't be necessary!" More calmly, "If you say I'm safe, then I believe you, detective."

Murdoch nodded once more and left.

* * *

The rest of the day went by in a blur and he was grateful for it. Without George there to be a constant reminder of all his secrets, it was much easier to focus on other matters. Admittedly he didn't have much _to_ focus on but he appreciated this slight reprieve nonetheless. The work day came to an end and he headed to the morgue, unsure of what he'd find there. Julia had already left (normally they walked to and from work together every day). Murdoch sighed and went home.

As usual, Richard (Julia's father) had picked Ben up from school hours ago and they were in the living room. Richard was reading the evening edition of the Gazette and Ben was happily playing with his toy horse collection.

"Murdoch," he said, nodding curtly as Murdoch walked through the door.

"Mr. Ogden," he replied.

For some reason they had never managed to address each other in less formal ways, even though he was around almost everyday. Maybe it was simply their way of showing how much they respected each other? Murdoch had always followed his lead in this regard and he was happy enough to comply.

"Daddy!" exclaimed Ben shortly after, dropping his toys and running into his father's waiting arms.

Their faces close together he asked, "How was your day, son?"

"Great! Miss Feral (her name was Ferrerall but Ben couldn't manage to get it right and Murdoch didn't blame him) taught us the," he paused, "al-pha-bet and she said I was the best!"

"That's great son," he said and smiled.

"Do you wanna hear?" he asked excitedly.

"Of course."

He took a deep breath but then stopped, with a puzzled expression on his face. He looked past Murdoch's shoulder. "Where's mommy?"

_Oh great._

* * *

Julia didn't come home for several hours and even Ruby seemed to have grown concerned over her whereabouts. Once again she wouldn't answer Murdoch's questions and he was forced to let the matter lie.

At dinner Ruby tried to get her attention but found it difficult. Julia seemed to be miles away. Finally she broke through. "Jules would you like me to go to a hotel?"

Julia appeared surprised by this question. "Why would I want that?"

"I fear my presence here has affected the natural order of things."

"Nonsense," she said, surprising Murdoch.

_Wasn't_ Ruby the reason for all this unusual turmoil? And since when did Julia _like_ having her sister around for more than a day?

"Then what's the problem, Jules?" she asked concernedly. "Why are you treating William so abominably?"

Ben watched the goings on with only vague understanding. Mostly he was just playing with his food again.

Murdoch caught his wife's eye and they held it for a second. Whatever hardness had been present melted away and she said, "I'm so sorry, William. I didn't mean to but I just couldn't...help it. I know it's no excuse but I've had a lot on my mind lately."

Murdoch reached his hand across the table and placed it over top hers. "Is this about that night in the cemetery?"

She looked at him in a confused manner and said, "No, why would that be bothering me?"

Slightly exasperated he said, "Julia, you ended a man's life."

In response she started to cry and Murdoch and Ruby shared a startled look. That got Ben's full attention and he stared at her open mouthed. It was Ruby's turn to ferret the little tyke out of there so that Murdoch could hopefully get to the bottom of this once and for all. He moved his chair beside hers and she sobbed into his chest for several minutes. Finally she stopped.

He took her hands in his and said,"Julia, whatever is the matter?"

She looked afraid then. "I'm not sure how to tell you."

"Try."

Julia sighed deeply and said, "Yesterday morning I went to see Isaac."

This was greatly alarming to Murdoch given everything he knew about the man. However he did his best to act normal given this revelation.

"I gather this wasn't one of your usual visits."

Eyes averted, "No."

Something occurred to him then but he tried not to get angry and jump to conclusions. It was impossible though. "Is this about Ruby? Were you trying to procure his...services for your sister?"

"No...not for her."

Murdoch wasn't following.

"What are you saying, Julia?"

She didn't respond.

"_Julia_."

"I'm with child," she said still not looking at him.

His brain was frozen in place. Eventually he computed this information and his face lit up like the first of July fireworks.

"Why this is _fantastic_ news!" he exclaimed, hugging her. She didn't reciprocate and he released his grip on her. His smile faltered as he looked at her, "Isn't it?"

"I'm afraid not, William," she said so sadly that his smile evaporated all together. He anxiously waited for her to speak again. "You're probably wondering how this is even possible." Murdoch didn't respond as it had completely slipped his mind in his excitement. "Apparently over the past year there's been some healing of my scar tissue. Don't ask me how, only five years ago, Isaac told me I could never have children."

"It's a miracle then!" he said happily but still confused at her manner.

She smiled bitterly and said, "You would think that wouldn't you?" He was afraid for what was coming next so he didn't say anything. "Due to my age, but more to the point, given all the damage that is still there, Isaac expects it will be a difficult pregnancy...a _very_ difficult pregnancy."

Now Murdoch could see where this was going and his heart plummeted into his stomach.

"He believes that there is the very real chance that the child won't...survive. Or if it does...it will be severely malformed."

Murdoch started to tear up and said, "Dr. Tash can't know this for certain."

"Of course not, William, but I trust his judgement and we need to be prepared for the worst case scenario." Silence for a moment. "There's something else."

_Now what?_

"Assuming the baby survives to full term, the birth itself could be full of complications."

"Isn't this normally the case though, Julia?"

"Yes...but because of the way my womb is shaped, the chances are much higher that I will have great difficulty giving birth."

He thought about that for a second, letting the implications sink in. Glumly, "You may need caesarian section then."

"Yes," she said, nodding slightly, agitatedly, "and we both know the risks of that."

Though C-sections were far safer than they once were due to certain advances in medical technique and tools, they were still very dangerous procedures to undergo, for _both_ mother and child. Only the most competent doctors had comparable success rates to those of natural births.

Needless to say Murdoch was quite dismayed with everything he had learned. It was almost as if this pregnancy was a way of taunting him with the one thing he wanted more than anything else in the world; a natural born child. Why he should be punished he couldn't fathom. He was still a religious man who attended church regularly and was raising his son in the catholic faith. What more could be asked of him?

And then ungratefully he had the nerve to blame Julia (in his mind) for the state of affairs. If only she had converted to his faith, maybe things would be different? If she had been even slightly religious, they wouldn't be in this mess! Those unworthy thoughts quickly disappeared as he came to his senses. The mere fact that she was able to conceive was proof enough that she was one in a million (though he had always thought this) but now he believed it with every fibre of his being.

"Never mind that, Julia," he said smiling widely, a tingling sensation beginning to spread throughout his entire body, "let us celebrate this wonderful event!"

At first she was hesitant to return the smile but then she became infected with his good mood and they began making out like teenagers that had ditched their chaperon.

Not long after Ruby showed up and said, "I see you two have worked things out."

They parted and Julia jumped up to embrace her bewildered sister. She released her and said gayly, "Oh Ruby, I'm pregnant, too!"

"You're-you're what? But I thought-Oh Jules, I'm so happy for you!"

They hugged again, this time for longer.

Abruptly Ruby said, "I have to go."

The Murdoch's watched as she left the house for the first time since arriving, having a very good idea of where she was headed and feeling just as apprehensive as she no doubt was. But the feeling was short lived and it was back to celebrating.


	4. Surprise!

Ruby approached George's apartment on Fleetwood St. with trepidation. The last time she had been there there had been a huge blowout between them and that was the final straw that had sent her packing. She didn't know what she expected to go down this time but it certainly wasn't what _did _happen.

Ruby stood outside his door, contemplating what to do. Finally after taking a few steadying breaths, she knocked, hoping that when it opened, she would appear her usual calm and collected self. However, no one answered. She knocked again but still no one answered. It was too late to turn back now, she would have to wait here until he returned. While she waited, she wondered if his spare key was still in the same place so she stood on tip toe and searched the upper door frame for it.

_Eureka!_

She slid the key into the lock, opened the door and turned on a light. The place was much cleaner than she ever recalled it being. Perhaps he had had his mother over recently? Ruby had only met her once but she was a kindly sort of woman and it came as no surprise to her that George was her son. Judging by how she reacted to his mess the last time she was here, it was conceivable that the same thing had occurred again. It never once crossed her mind that there could be another reason for this cleanliness.

With little else to do, she sat down and picked up the manuscript for George's most recent novel. It was a new one that she hadn't seen before, entitled **The Killing of the Shrew**_._

_This isn't good._

She opened it to the first page and cringed inwardly as she read the first few lines.

_Rose Oldman was a conniving she-devil that met an unfortunate, yet unsurprising end. Her death had no doubt been brought on by her many manipulations and lies. However, there was only one way to determine this for certain. And so it was left to Detective Murton to pry into her insidious lifestyle and try to separate fact from fiction, a seemingly insurmountable task, but if anyone could do it, it was him._

It pained her too much to continue reading so she closed the manuscript and put it back on the table. She prayed that he had written this a long time ago when he was still furious with her for leaving and not in the recent past. If he was still _that_ angry at her, this reunion would go very poorly, even worse than she was anticipating.

With all this pent up nervous energy flowing through her, she felt compelled to aimlessly wander around the apartment until George came home. When she felt like she couldn't take it any longer, she heard gay voices outside that abruptly stopped and then the click of the lock. She turned to face the door just as George and another woman came through. Though Ruby couldn't see her face, it was clear that she was definitely _not_ his mother, not the way they were locking lips! Ruby was nauseated by such an ardent display involving the father of her child but she did her best not to vomit all over his couch.

Her nausea quickly turned to rage and she wanted to rip the woman's head from her shoulders. She controlled that impulse as well but couldn't help but make a little growling sound. It was at this point that they finally noticed her standing there and they immediately broke apart.

George exclaimed, "Ruby?! What the devil are you doing here!"

She was still fuming and found she couldn't respond. Instead she continued standing there, hands balled into fists and teeth grinding together.

"Did you hear what I just said?" he yelled.

When she finally began to calm down, she was able to place the other woman. She was that young pathologist that Jules had trained up and who had been present at her wedding with none other than George's best friend Henry! The sheer nerve of this woman was astounding! It was too much to be borne!

Ruby could never say for certain later if it was her baby hormones that made her act this way or if she had done it all on her own steam. Whatever the reason was, she found herself marching over to the woman and about to slap her when George intervened, grabbing her wrist and turning her away from Emily.

"I think it would be best if you leave now," he said darkly to Ruby, tossing her hand back.

"No, I think it would be best if _she_ left!" Ruby said loudly, pointing a finger at an extremely uncomfortable Emily.

"Perhaps she's right," said Emily in an uncharacteristic nervous manner. "It looks like you two _really_ need to talk through your issues."

"There's nothing left _to_ talk about!" shouted George angrily.

"Actually there is," said Ruby so quietly that it had the effect of softening George's features slightly. "There's something very important we must discuss."

George's expression changed to one of suspicion. "Is this another of your tricks?"

She waved her arms and said, "No, I swear it isn't!"

"Ruby, if I find out you are lying, just so I don't kick you out, I swear to God-"

"I'm pregnant!" she blurted out, unable to contain herself any longer.

His face became shocked and he stuttered, "You-you're-you-" He stared at her still flat stomach, and pointed, "b-baby?"

Despite herself and the situation his manner made her smile. She nodded and said, "Yes and it's yours."

Without further ado Emily high tailed it out of there and George didn't even notice. He simply collapsed into a chair and put his head in his hands.

"Oh my g-goodness! How d-did this happen?"

"I can explain it if you'd like," she said coyly, trying to lighten the mood, only to have this backfire.

He looked up at her unbelieving and said, "This is no laughing matter! This is _terrible_!"

"It is?" she asked, crestfallen.

"Of course! We aren't married! What will my mother say? What will _everyone_ say?"

"Since when did _you_ care about gossip, George?"

"Since a woman who refuses to be married is carrying my illegitimate child!"

"Things change," she said softly touching his shoulder. He jumped in his seat at the contact and she hastily removed her hand, extremely hurt at his reaction.

He stood up and began pacing and she wondered if he had even heard her previous comment. Then he stopped and faced her again. "You're sure you're not pulling my leg?" Before she could respond he resumed pacing and muttered to himself as if she weren't right there, "No, even _she_ wouldn't stoop so low. She _must_ be with child. But what do I do now?"

She grabbed his hand as he passed by again and this time he didn't flinch away. "Now you propose to me again and this time I say yes."

George stared into her eyes, knew that she was serious, and gulped.

The next second a shadow flitted across his eyes and he said in a low, dangerous manner, "Something has just occurred to me. You've been gone for three months. That means you've known for at least two whole months and you never once contacted me. Were you ever planning to? Or were you simply going to get rid of it and never come back?"

Ruby was slightly shocked by his questions (the last one in particular) but knew that they were completely justified. What had she expected him to think?

"I would never have had an abortion," she said stroking his face, he simply stood there simmering. "Not when I knew it was your child. I wanted to tell you a long time ago but with the way we left things, it was very difficult to work up the nerve. And then the longer I put it off the more difficult it became. Surely you can understand that?"

Some of the anger seeped away from his expression but it by no means completely vanished.

"You should never have left," he said bitterly, quietly. "That was the _worst _thing anyone has ever done to me, and I was abandoned by my own parents when I was just a baby."

"I know," she said taking his hands and starting to cry, "I'm so sorry, George. I know it's no excuse but I was so angry that I wasn't thinking straight. I just left without a single thought to your well being. Once I had realized what I'd done, I couldn't turn back, I was too stubborn for that. Can you ever forgive me?"

"I suppose I don't have a choice," he said grumpily. "Somehow you always seem to worm your way back to my good side. It's _very_ annoying."

She smiled at that and he couldn't help but grin a little. Ruby hoped that this was signalling that they were now on track once more, towards happier times and greener pastures. But only time would tell.

* * *

Having gone to bed before Ruby returned (if indeed she even had), the Murdoch's would not learn of the outcome of her rendezvous with George until the next day. In fact, Murdoch would learn of it sooner than Julia because he would come face to face with George much earlier than Julia would with Ruby.

As soon as Murdoch entered the station house and saw George's expression, he knew that things had been patched up between them, it was written all over his face. The last time Murdoch had seen him that happy was at his wedding, when their relationship had been fresh and exciting and not bogged down by months and months of conflict. He just prayed his protege would continue to be happy and not revert back to his old ways. But knowing Ruby, it was a much safer bet to expect more drama and heart ache to come.

Murdoch also couldn't help but feel bad for Emily. Though he had never much cared for her during the month or so they had worked together while Julia had coped with certain horrific revelations, there was no denying that she had been instrumental in locating his son and because of that he was forever grateful towards her. Besides that, she was a good person (if not a bit annoying like George) who didn't deserve to be tossed aside like so much trash. He hoped that she wouldn't take this rejection too hard and soon find another more available candidate to court. But it was what it was, there was nothing he could do about it.

"Sir!" said George happily as Murdoch approached his office, "I have something very important to tell you!"

"Oh?" he said, raising his eyebrows, playing the fool.

Without beating around the bush in the slightest he said, "Ruby and I are engaged and we are to be married in a week's time!"

"Why that is wonderful news!" he exclaimed, not needing to force the emotion. He had hoped this would be the outcome but even he hadn't expected them to tie the knot so quickly. But then he realized he should have expected this. It was only a matter of time before Ruby started to show. When that happened, their indiscretion would be on display for the entire world.

"Well done, George!" he said holding out his hand.

George swatted it aside and grabbed him in a big bear hug, slightly winding him.

"Uh, George," he choked out. More sternly, "_George_!"

George released him, looking sheepish. "Oh, I'm sorry, sir, I just got a bit carried away."

"It's quite all right, George." Silence for a moment. "Who else have you told?"

"So far just you, Henry and the inspector." If that was the case, Brackenreid had surely put the pieces of the puzzle together and now knew the truth. Which was good news for Murdoch because he hated keeping secrets. "I wanted to tell all of you before I told the rest of the boys."

Murdoch nodded and George beamed at him. Murdoch was about to inform George of Julia's pregnancy when Higgins interrupted them.

"So sorry sirs-"

"Henry what have I told you about calling me that? Just because I'm now your superior doesn't mean anything has to change!"

"Sorry si- George, old habits die hard I guess. Anyway," he said turning to face Murdoch, "we've had five more complaints from Mr. Radley and he says he refuses to stop until we give him what he asked for. Do you know what that means?"

"Yes," said Murdoch sighing. "He wants us to post a constable outside his place."

"Do you want me to-"

"No, I'll handle this Henry. I'm sure George can find better uses to put you to...tuxedo shopping for one."

The two younger men grinned at each other and Murdoch headed back out the door, having just warmed up fully. This was a good thing because it was a brisk day out and he had another long bike ride ahead of him. The lengthy ride was also a good thing because at the moment he had no idea how he was going to make Mr. Radley see reason. He seemed to have gotten much worse in the months since he last had dealings with him. Murdoch hoped something would come to him by the time he got there.

* * *

He knocked on the door. There was no response. He knocked again, louder and there was still no response.

"Mr. Radley?" he called. "It's detective Murdoch!" Silence. "Mr. Radley?" Silence. It was quite unlike him to ignore him for so long and since Murdoch knew that he wasn't out he began to get worried. "Mr. Radley, I'm coming in!"

Murdoch put his shoulder to the door and shoved hard. Nothing happened. He did this again with more force and still nothing happened. Finally, he stood back and kicked at it several times till the lock was busted and the sturdy door gave way, wood splinters exploding everywhere.

"Mr. Radley? Are you all right?"

No response.

Cautiously, Murdoch explored the house but he was nowhere to be found.

_How odd! Where could he be?_

He went outside and scanned the ensuing area but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, that is until he spotted that same black cat from before. It was sitting on the doorstep in front of the Hodgins property, staring at him.

Intrigued and slightly unnerved, he approached it and the rundown house. Even as Murdoch walked by it, the cat never once moved, except to turn it's head and continue to stare at him, unblinking.

Murdoch went inside and called, "Mr. Radley?"

Silence.

After scouring the entire lower level, he crept up the stairs. Once he got to the top he could hear a strange sound, it was very faint but it was definitely there.

_I wonder..._

Sure enough it seemed to be emanating from the same bedroom as last time. He stuck his head in but didn't see anything other than the broken glass from the lantern. So he followed the sound around to the other side of the bed and gasped. Mr. Radley was rocking back and forth muttering nonsense to himself. He was sweating heavily and had ripped out large chunks of his hair and beard and they were scattered around his person haphazardly.

_What in the world?_

"Mr. Radley?" said Murdoch tentatively, approaching him cautiously. "Mr. Radley, it's detective Murdoch."

The man looked up (and Murdoch couldn't help but gasp again as he saw Radley's eyes moving rapidly from side to side) and screamed bloody murder.

"No, stay away!" he cried, backing up into the wall with a terrified expression on his face. "Leave me alone!"

"Mr. Radley, it's all right, no one's going to hurt you." He stepped a bit closer and the man hid his head between his legs, cowering at the sight of him.

"I said begone demon!"

He touched his shoulder and the man went completely berserk, and head butted Murdoch square in the forehead. Murdoch fell backwards, momentarily stunned as Radley charged at him again, trying to gouge out his eyes. Luckily Murdoch managed to come to his senses in time and roll out of his way. Then he grabbed him from behind and over powered the mad man, wrestling him to the ground. Murdoch put cuffs on him and as soon as he released him, Radley began shrieking his head off and flailing around like a child undergoing a massive tantrum. Completely bewildered and not knowing what else to do, Murdoch went outside and accessed a police box.

"This is detective Murdoch. I'm going to need a prisoner transport carriage and a few men to come down to Starry Road...immediately."


	5. Haunted House?

It was a difficult matter but the two constables eventually succeeded in dragging a kicking and screaming Mr. Radley into the waiting carriage. Unsurprisingly, this display attracted a lot of attention from the neighbours. Murdoch couldn't care less at what they thought about this, he simply wanted to understand what had triggered this mental break. Was it simply an inevitable conclusion given his 'normal' demeanour? Or was there more to this?

One thing was for sure, the Hodgin's property had officially earned itself a more thorough investigation. He instructed the men to take him back to station house four and place him in the cells there. If and when he seemed to have calmed down, they were instructed to come and find Murdoch so that he could question him further.

Back in the house he straight away headed to the room where he had found Mr. Radley. He began exploring every inch of the place, looking for anything out of the ordinary. After ten minutes of this, he had still come up empty handed. Now what? Should he explore the entire house? Or was this a pointless endeavour?

As he tried to make up his mind, he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to face the movement, he couldn't see anything. Then he saw it again, this time from the other direction. He whipped his head to the side and looked into a full length mirror. In the reflection he could see something that he couldn't explain. The nightstand was floating in mid-air! Murdoch turned on his heel and found that it was still floating! What sort of trickery was this? As he walked over to it, it fell to the floor with a loud clunk. Murdoch searched for strings, really _anything_ that could explain what he had just witnessed. But it was not to be. Regardless of his findings, Murdoch assumed _someone_ must have been controlling it remotely so he quickly went into the adjoining room to try and catch the trickster in the act but there was no one there.

_How is this possible?_

The next second there was a whooshing sound by his right ear and a thud shortly after. He looked at the ground to see a book lying there. Murdoch turned to face the bookshelf and saw another book come shooting at his head. He ducked just in time. A whole bunch of books began flying from the shelves like shrapnel and he ran out of the room, a booming laughter coming out of nowhere and startling him badly, making him stop moving.

After he got over his fright he yelled, "Show yourself!" No response. "This is detective Murdoch of the Toronto constabulary and I demand that you show yourself!"

He heard a creak on the stairs and ran towards the culprit. There was no one there. Then he heard a hissing sound behind him and saw that damn black cat charging at him, fangs bared. Murdoch sprinted down the stairs as fast as he could and his foot fell through the rotten boards. The cat was almost upon him, when he managed to break free and ran outside, slamming the door behind him. He hopped on his bike and got the hell out of there.

On his way back he was extremely agitated and lashed out at several people who got in his way. However, about half way back he had calmed down and was beginning to return to his normal, well adjusted self.

* * *

Back at the station house, Brackenreid called him into his office.

"So, Murdoch, I see Mr. Radley has finally gone bonkers. Can't say I'm surprised."

"I believe there is more to it than meets the eye."

Brackenreid rolled his eyes and said, "Of course you do, Murdoch." More graciously, "What do you mean?"

"Sir," said Murdoch uncomfortably, "I experienced something bizarre in the Hodgins place."

"Again, what do you mean?"

"I saw some things that I can't explain, some seemingly impossible things."

Brackrenreid raised his eyebrows at that. "Well, maybe you're just tired. Have you been sleeping well?"

To tell the truth he hadn't been, not with all the secrets he previously had swirling around his head and the excitement of the past evening.

"I don't think that's the reason, sir."

"Then I don't know what to tell you, Murdoch but you aren't looking quite like yourself so you best take some laudanam to get a good nights rest." Murdoch nodded and there was silence for a second, "Oh, right! That reminds me, you had a lady visitor here earlier."

"Who, sir?"

Brackenreid grinned and said, "An old acquaintance of yours, Miss Pensell or rather Mrs. Novak now."

_The medium?_

"I thought she was in Prague."

"That was over five years ago, Murdoch. People like to visit once in awhile." He smirked, "I believe it's called 'catching up'." Murdoch couldn't help but look glum. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you weren't happy to hear this news."

In fact, the inspector was quite correct. While he liked Mrs. Novak, she had a habit of showing up when bad things were about to happen to him. Her abilities, which he had ceased to doubt a long time ago, often left her prone to visions of his imminent death. Was it simply coincidence that she had shown up at his doorstep after all these years only a short while after witnessing something completely down her alley? He didn't think so but there was only one way to know for sure.

"It's not that exactly, sir, it's just...did she say where she was staying?"

"The Fairmont, room 351."

"If there's nothing else you need from me, I think I'll go pay her a visit."

"You're in the clear."

"Thank you, sir."

* * *

He could have put off this meeting for a long time but in his experience that would have been a very bad idea. Better to get it over with sooner than later. Knocking on the door, he anxiously waited for a response. It wasn't long before an elegant European man answered.

"It's about time you got here," he said, with a thick Czech accent. "We've been waiting for hours."

"You know who I am?"

"Of course," he said, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him inside. "Sarah has told me all about you." He smirked a little, "Not that I needed her to."

Murdoch raised his eyebrows at that wondering what he meant but then his attention was captured by the equally elegant tanned woman sitting by the window. She was staring at him in a nervous manner which did little to alleviate his fears.

Then she smiled brightly, said, "Detective," and held out her gloved hand as he neared.

"Mrs. Novak," he replied, taking it in his own for a few seconds. "How nice to see you again."

"You as well."

Mr. Novak came to stand behind his wife, hands on her shoulders and Murdoch took a seat.

"I see congratulations are in order," he said.

"Thank you," she said, still smiling. "To you as well. It was...Julia, right?"

"Yes, you are correct."

"And how is Ben fairing?"

How could she possibly know about him? It took him a second to figure it out.

"You read about what happened in the paper."

They nodded.

"But your other child, I learned about right now," said Jakub, smirking.

Murdoch opened his mouth, dumbfounded in response. They had told no one yet, besides Ruby!

"Jakub!" chastised his wife. "What have I told you about doing that? People deserve their privacy!"

"Okay, okay," he said, "I won't do it again. I was just having a little fun."

Murdoch got a hold of himself and said, "How did-"

Sarah sighed and said, "Jakub and I met at the institute in Prague, the one for special individuals. Let's just say he has a very keen insight into the human mind."

_Is she saying what I think she is?_

"Yes, she is saying what you think, detective," he smirked, "or rather I am."

"Jakub! If you can't control yourself, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."

"I promise that was the last time." He shrugged his shoulders, "How could I pass up that opportunity?"

They observed each other in silence for a moment. He had no idea what to make of Mr. Novak. All he knew was that he made him extremely uncomfortable. So he figured he might as well get this show on the road so that he could get out of here as soon as possible.

"So what brings you to Toronto once more?"

"Jakub wanted to see my home town after hearing so much about it. Besides which, I must admit to being a little homesick."

"And how long have you been in town?"

"About a month. I thought of coming to see you sooner but felt you might get the wrong impression. So I put it off and then..."

He waited for her to continue but she didn't, her husband did.

"Sarah thinks that you are in grave danger."

So it was as he had dreaded!

"Jakub!" she said shaking her head, "Sometimes you are so tactless."

He grinned and said, "I thought you liked straight forwardness?"

"In some cases, yes, but as it is..."

It was Murdoch's turn to get irritated. "Please, Mrs. Novak, just tell me what you saw."

"All right," she said and closed her eyes. "You are underground somewhere, in a tunnel of some sort. You are stumbling all over the place and screaming for help but there's no one around besides your would be killer who is pointing a gun at you." She opened her eyes, "And that's what I've seen."

"What of his face? Did you see it?"

She shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry, detective, his scarf was obscuring his features."

Murdoch was very agitated now. How was this supposed to help him survive? She hadn't told him anything useful! What was the point?

Jakub frowned at him and said, "That is a rather ungrateful attitude, detective."

"That's _it_!" exclaimed Sarah, "Out!"

Jakub grunted and did as he was told.

"I'm very sorry, detective," she said, "he takes great pride in his ability and feels he shouldn't have to hide his true nature." She sighed, "As you can imagine, that can create difficulties for us from time to time."

Murdoch vaguely wondered if there was more to their being back in Canada than she had let on but at the moment, he had far more pressing matters to attend to, that of his imminent demise!

"Forget about that!" he snapped, not meaning to. "Forgive me but-"

"I quite understand, detective. Believe me when I say that I debated for awhile before deciding to contact you. I wasn't sure there was really any reason to alarm you, given how little I actually knew and given how I was wrong the last time. But then I decided it was for the best. I couldn't have lived with myself if something had happened to you, knowing I could have done something to prevent it."

Murdoch was silent.

She took his hand in hers and said, "I hope I am wrong this time as well."

"As do I, Mrs. Novak, as do I." Then another thought came to him. "Mrs. Novak, would you care to assist me in an investigation again?"

She raised her eyebrows. "I'd be delighted to, detective. But first I must check on Jakub, before he reveals his secret to the entire hotel."

* * *

An hour later all three of them were at the Hodgins property. Jakub had refused to let his wife go alone with a man she thought might die. But at least for once, he was absolutely silent, letting his wife work her magic. Mrs. Novak walked around the ground floor with her eyes closed but somehow managed not to walk into anything. It was as if someone (or something) were in possession of her faculties.

"I'm not sensing anything down here."

Then she went up the stairs (eyes still closed, missing the whole in the board) and it was no surprise to Murdoch when they ended up outside of that same bedroom.

"There was a terrible tragedy here," she said as she walked around. "I can feel them. They are still here."

"Them?" asked Murdoch, growing increasingly uncomfortable.

"Yes, there are two of them. A woman and a man. The woman has flowing blonde hair and the man is very handsome except for the scar on his cheek."

Murdoch felt goosebumps prickling the back of his neck. That sounded like the two lovers!

"What else do you see?"

"It's not so much what I see but what I sense, detective. These people shared a great love for each other, still do in fact. When they were living, they spent many a rapturous night in this very room. And because of that, they can't let go and be at peace. They are afraid that if they do, they will lose each other, or at least what they used to have."

Thinking about what happened to Mr. Radley and himself he asked, "Are they dangerous? Would they attack trespassers?"

Silence for a moment. "No, I don't believe so, detective. They aren't malevolent spirits, they are content enough with their situation as long as they have each other."

He couldn't believe he was about to say this. "I saw something levitate in this room. Did one of them cause that?"

"They don't know what you are talking about, detective."

How could they not?

Murdoch walked over to the nightstand and said loudly, "This right here! I saw it floating!"

Mrs. Novak opened her eyes and stared at him for the first time in many minutes. "There's no need for yelling, detective. They aren't going to change their minds. They never caused anything of that nature."

Murdoch clomped into the next room and was astonished to find that the books were all back on the shelf.

What was going on here?


	6. In The Hands Of Men

Murdoch had had a very trying day and wanted nothing more than to curl up beside Julia and place his ear to her stomach. This wasn't because he expected to hear a heart beat (indeed it was much too early for that) but rather it had a calming effect on him (as he had experienced the previous night). Unfortunately, he would have to wait a little longer, for when he returned to the station house, there were visitors in Brackenreid's office. One of them he didn't recognize but the other was very familiar. Even from the back, Murdoch could tell who it was by the great plume of cigar smoke hovering around his head.

_Myers. Now what?_

Brackenreid saw him standing there and gestured to him to come in. Murdoch sighed internally and made his way over there.

"Mr. Myers," he said nodding in his direction.

"Detective," he said, touching the brim of his top hat. "I'd like to introduce Mr. Dalton to you."

"Sir."

"Detective," said the middle aged man backing away from him slightly. "For lack of a better word, you are looking a bit spooked. Are you feeling all right?"

"It's been a trying day," Murdoch responded wearily.

Myers took a puff on his cigar. "I'm afraid it's about to get a little more so."

"Yes," said Brackenreid, "These two gentlemen have some interesting information for you, Murdoch. It pertains to our friend Mr. Radley."

"Oh?" said Murdoch raising his eyebrows. "And what would that be?"

Myers smiled and said, "For the last several months, we've been keeping an eye out for a certain unusual incident. When we learned of Mr. Radley's condition, we knew that our man must be nearby."

"Your man?"

"Yes," he said, reaching into his pocket and taking out a photo and handing it to Murdoch. The man was in his forties, quite round faced, with black hair and blacker eyes behind a pair of spectacles.

"His name is Kevin Goldby. He was a former military man up until an unfortunate...accident occurred."

"Accident?"

Myers observed him wryly and said, "Goldby, along with several others, including Dalton here, were working on a way to create a fear toxin."

"Excuse me?"

Mr. Dalton took over. "This toxin was going to be used as a means to easily disable the enemy by causing terrifying hallucinations. However, we struggled to get this to work properly. When we tested it on dogs, they would first cower in the corner but then they would eventually become very aggressive and attack each other _and_ anyone nearby.

"I can see how that would be problematic."

"I haven't gotten to the worst part yet." Murdoch raised his eyebrows and Mr. Dalton continued. "Whoever came into contact with these dogs began to experience hallucinations themselves and then aggression later on. The only good news is that these people experienced a milder form of the toxin."

"Are you saying that the toxin can be transferred through _touch_?"

"Yes, detective, through the infected person's sweat. However, once the toxin has run its course, it becomes inert and perfectly harmless."

Did that explain what he had seen? Though he had been wearing gloves at the time, Radley's skull had made contact with his own! He wondered if the constables had experienced something odd as well or if their gloves had protected them from that fate.

"How long do the side effects usually last?"

"It depends on the dose. If one were to be exposed second hand, that is to say, absorbed via the skin rather than inhaled directly, I'd say...an hour at most. But if you were to get a direct blast in your face, it could be closer to five hours."

"So Mr. Radley will recover?"

"As to that, I have no idea, detective. When I saw him earlier, he was in much worse condition than anyone else I have ever seen so long after the initial infection."

"Could his pre-exisiting mental imbalance have amplified the toxin's effects?"

Dalton was thoughtful for a moment. "Yes, I believe that is a possibility."

"Is there by any chance an antidote?"

"No, I'm afraid not, detective, we were never able to devise one. The toxin must simply be allowed to run its course. However, I have almost devised a quick fix should the need arise. It's-"

"Enough chit chat!" exclaimed Brackenreid. "Let's catch this bastard before he harms anyone else!"

"My sentiments exactly," said Myers, puffing on his cigar for what must have been the hundredth time since the conversation had started, judging by how far worn down it was. "Goldby must be caught before he runs or there is no telling what havoc he will wreak!"

"Sirs, I understand your gung-ho attitudes," said Dalton, "but it would be best if I finish my work first before-"

"We're not just going to sit around while this tosser messes with people's minds!" exclaimed Brackenreid.

"Sir," said Murdoch, "I have some knowledge of what this toxin can do to a person,"- Dalton and Myers backed further away from him - "and I think you should listen to Mr. Dalton. As well, I fear this is a trap, designed to lure Goldby's pursuers to him so that-"

"You were in the Hodgins house at the time, right?" he barked.

Murdoch didn't respond and Brackenreid glared at him and stomped out of the room, yelling for the men to gather round. While Myers and Brackenreid were putting a task force together, Dalton had gone off to finish his 'quick fix' and Murdoch hastily searched for something. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough and the men had taken off without him.

It took some time but eventually he found what he was looking for. Ever since he had found Radley in the Hodgins place, he had wondered at it. Not only was it extremely unusual that Radley would have left the safety of his house but also there was the matter of his entrance door. Murdoch had once examined it for him in an effort to convince him that the lock was working perfectly fine. Radley's door was built in such a way that a key was required in order to lock it, from either side. Murdoch's issue with this was that there had been no key found on Mr. Radley's person. So how could Radley have left his house and still locked the door?

The answer lay in what Murdoch had just uncovered in the blueprints he had been looking at. There was a secret passageway running underneath both of the houses! It appeared that the Hodgins and Radley's had been _much _better acquainted with one another than previously thought. But what did this mean for his own well being? Was this the tunnel that Mrs. Novak had foretold about?

* * *

Just in case Murdoch had been wrong, Brackenreid had instructed constables to scour the area as well, arousing the curiosity of the residents of Starry Road. Myers, Brackenreid, George and Higgins took to investigating the house. All four men were armed and at the ready for anything. Or so they thought.

* * *

By the time Murdoch arrived at Starry Road, all was chaos. There were people fighting and screaming at each other (constables and civilians alike) and some of the armed individuals were shooting at each other like there was no tomorrow. Not surprisingly it appeared several people had been wounded and one may even have been dead. It was hard to tell in the darkness of the area but one thing was for sure, the person in question was not moving. But there was no way to attend to him, he was in the middle of the gun fire and it would have been suicide to run over there. Murdoch would have called for backup but that would likely have only added to the insanity of the situation. No, it was up to Dalton now to put a stop to all of this. Murdoch just prayed that they had not been infected first hand or there was no telling how far this thing could spread, or how many more would perish.

So not knowing what else to do, he retrieved a pistol from his coat pocket and cautiously advanced towards the Hodgins property. He soon found this to be impossible as there were far too many crazed people attacking each other just outside of it. Instead he snuck into the Radley residence easily (as the door was still broken) and began searching for the tunnel entrance. Rather than turn on the lights (as he feared this would attract far too much attention to him) he tried to make due with just whatever moon light was filtering through the windows. Unfortunately this wasn't enough and he was forced to take out his flash light in order to see his surroundings better.

Finally he located the spot where it was likely that the entrance to the tunnel lay. There was a picture frame there so he put his gun back in his pocket so that he could take it down and place it aside. Then he ran his free hand along the wooden wall and found that a portion of it wasn't as sturdy as the rest. The problem was that there appeared to be no indentation of any kind to allow removal of the boards.

Dammit! he thought, pounding his fist against the wall. All of a sudden it pushed inward and moved off to the side, on some sort of track.

The next second he heard a shriek behind him and turned around to find a clearly unbalanced woman nearby. Fearing what would happen if she touched him (and also not wanting to harm her) he quickly stepped through the barrier and frantically looked for some kind of switch to close it up again. However, it turned out that he didn't have enough time to do this and she charged at him yelling, "Murderer!" over and over again.

He hastily stepped back a little further and that's when he saw the glint of metal from the corner of his eye. It was a lever! He pulled it quickly and the wall moved back in place, just in time for the woman to collide with it. Murdoch had dropped his flash light and held on to the lever with all his strength, knowing that if he hadn't, the door would have just opened again. He needed a more permanent solution though so he hastily set out to jam the lever in place so that she wouldn't be able to get through. Since he couldn't move from his position and it was only a matter of time before the crazed woman's pounding got the better of his strength, he had to improvise.

With great difficulty he removed one of his shoes and then wedged it underneath the gears attached to the lever. Before he let go, he retrieved his pistol again and aimed it at the entrance, just in case. However this appeared to be an unnecessary precaution because his shoe was holding the door in place, for the time being anyway. Not wanting to stick around any longer, he grabbed his flash light off the ground and headed down some stairs and into an underground tunnel.

Down here he could barely hear the insane pounding and screams anymore but he wasn't sure he liked the alternative any better. It was a little too quiet. And knowing what he knew, his apprehension and senses were magnified ten fold, making the quiet seem even 'louder' than it really was.

Gun at the ready, he traversed the dingy tunnel (his right foot getting chilled on the cold concrete floor) keeping an eye out for any and all movements. When he estimated that he was about half way between the houses, he came across a door in the tunnels sidewall. What lay beyond that, he dreaded to find out but there was no turning back now so he pushed on it and it easily swung open. The room was pitch black so he swung his flashlight around to get a view of his surroundings. There was an intricate laboratory set up here, were once it appeared that a bedroom had existed (judging by the worn out bed in the corner).

What kept Murdoch on his toes was the fact that there was still steam emanating from whatever was in one of the flasks. This told him that someone was likely nearby, someone like Goldby. He ventured further into the room in order to search him out. When he was in the middle, there was a twanging sound and a cloud of something rained down on him from above. He tried to get out of the way but it was no use, it had spread everywhere too quickly.

_Oh no!_

He looked to his feet to see he had activated this contraption via a previously taut string. Cursing his ineptitude he heard a noise behind him and whirled around to find Goldby standing there.

"You are under arrest!"

The man simply smiled at him. Then before his very eyes and to Murdoch's disbelief, the corners of his smile continued to stretch upwards until they had melded with his ear lobes, giving him a grotesque appearance. He knew this wasn't really happening but even so, it was so life like that it was hard to convince himself of this.

All of a sudden Goldby was holding a knife in his hand and was advancing on him.

"Stay where you are!" commanded Murdoch, "or I will be forced to shoot!"

The insanely smiling man continued to bear down on him and Murdoch fired off a shot. He fell backwards, the knife clattering to the ground. Murdoch went over to him and kicked it far away from the unmoving man. Then like lightning, his eyes flashed back open and he grabbed Murdoch's leg, knocking him to the floor and making him drop his flashlight and gun.

As he scrambled towards them again, he could feel Goldby clutching at his shoeless foot with incredible strength. He couldn't seem to get away and Goldby began pulling him towards him. Then the knife was in Goldby's hand again (even though he swore he had kicked it too far away) and the blade came down on his right leg. The pain was exquisite and he cried and kicked out.

His good foot made contact and Goldby was knocked off him momentarily, long enough to grab his gun again. Goldby appeared to be completely undeterred by the goings on and came after him.

Murdoch struggled to his feet, screaming again as his weight bore down on his injured leg (blood was now running down it). Hobbling backwards and away from Goldby, he levelled the pistol at his face, which by now had become one big swirl of jumbled body parts, like a Picasso.

_Get it together William! This isn't real! It can't be!_

When Goldby was almost within reach of him again, he fired, the bullet clearly going straight through his skull. Goldby's head whipped back for a second but then he raised it back up and grabbed for a screaming Murdoch.

Murdoch just barely dodged this and hobbled away from him towards the entrance to the tunnel. When he got there, he closed the door and continued in the direction of the Hodgins house. He didn't get far before he found Goldby bearing down on him.

"Stay away from me!" he cried, staggering towards the end of the tunnel. Somehow he had convinced himself that if he just made it to the other side, this nightmare would end. Which was unfortunate for two reasons. One the toxin wasn't going to stop working any time soon and two, the passageway seemed to be going on forever. He could have sworn that he should have been there by now.

"Help!" he exclaimed, bouncing into a wall, "Someone please help me!"

He turned around to find Goldby still pursuing him but what really startled him was the fact that he appeared to have not moved. He could still see the entrance to the secret laboratory not ten feet away from him!

As he looked in front of him again, he found a terrifying sight ahead. There was a demon there! Its eyes were ablaze with hell fire, its skin covered in black scales, and horns were protruding from its oversized skull.

_This isn't real, this isn't real!_

Just as he thought that, he backed away from it, straight into the deadly embrace of Goldby! He wrapped his arms around him tight so that his gun arm was useless. With no other alternative before him, he broke down pleading with the hallucinations, as if that would be possible.

"Please don't kill me!" he repeated over and over again. "I have a family."

In response, the creature opened it's terrifying mouth and sprayed him with fire. It burned his face and he screamed. Without further ado, his vision blurred and he blacked out.


	7. Life Is What We Make Of It

When he came to, he found he had a terrible headache and his face was still throbbing dully. He reached up to touch it and winced, feeling angry sores all across his skin. The stinging sensation in his face was quickly allayed when he realized that he was locked up in a jail cell. If he wasn't much mistaken, it appeared to be the one in station house four. This was all but confirmed when he saw Radley muttering to himself in the other one. It was after this that he noticed Julia asleep on a chair just outside, her face squished against the bars.

He stood up and was surprised when there was no pain and indeed, no wound, until he realized that none of that had actually happened and he prayed, never would again. Murdoch wanted badly to go over to his soundly sleeping wife but was afraid what would happen if he got too close to her (and his unborn child). So instead he stayed put and contented himself with watching the rise and fall of her chest.

After awhile, Radley's ramblings became too distracting to ignore and besides which, they were irritating him in the extreme due to his massive headache.

"Could you please be quiet?" he hissed at the man, stunned at how much it hurt to move his sensitive mouth.

Radley paid him no mind and continued rambling to himself.

Without thinking he kicked the bars with his still shoeless foot and hollered. Radley still ignored him but Julia promptly awoke at the noise.

"Oh William," she said sorrowfully, as their eyes met, "are you all right?"

"Yes, Julia," he said, still keeping his distance. "I believe I am." Then he winced as the pain in his head reached another crescendo.

"Are you sure you're all right?" she asked again, this time concernedly.

"Fine, Julia, it's just a little headache."

A frown crossed her features. "It certainly doesn't seem like that." Her eyes widened, "And your face..."

"Trust me, dear, I've sustained far worse injuries than this. Though it is a bit odd, if I didn't know any better, I would say I had been chloroformed again."

"That's because you were," said a man sitting in the corner that Murdoch had somehow neglected to notice. When he approached them, Murdoch saw that the man was Dalton. He held up some sort of strange looking gun, smirked and said, "My quick fix. I must say detective, you certainly didn't make it easy to use. Then again, I suppose that's what happens when one isn't in their right mind. I apologize for my methods but it was the best I could do. The good news is that your burns will heal before you know it." Murdoch looked at him impassively. "I suppose I should also thank you for not shooting me." Murdoch gave him an apologetic look and Dalton smiled and said, "No hard feelings, detective. We'll call it even."

While he was grateful for what Dalton had done for him, he was still confused about one thing.

"How did you find me?"

"After I had whipped this contraption together, as well as several others, I came by your office to see if you were still there. I found the blue prints instead."

So the reason why he had appeared to him from ahead was because he had been forced to enter from the Hodgins property, as the other way had been blocked.

"Were you able to subdue everyone else?"

"Yes, detective," he said smiling, "with help I was able to. That and a little good old fashioned luck."

"Where are the others? Are they injured?"

"Unfortunately, yes, but nothing that they won't recover from. They are now recuperating at Toronto General."

All of a sudden he became very angry at Dalton, startling both him and his wife. "None of this should have ever happened! You should never have created such an evil thing in the first place!"

Dalton had the good grace to appear abashed. "You are right of course, detective. That is why I shut down the project after some members of our group got infected, and several people were wounded. Unfortunately, Goldby didn't agree with this and he went rogue, trying to perfect the toxin on his own, where no one would ever think to look for him, in a haunted house of all places. Very appropo. Then again, he always was one for a dramatic flare."

"And where is he? Did you apprehend him?"

Dalton gave him a curious glance as he said, "Why, you killed him, detective."

Murdoch shared a look with Julia.

"I'm afraid it's true, William, I've seen the body. He was shot in the chest once."

_So he was there all along?_

Just thinking about all that again began to make his head spin and he had to sit down. His first kill ever and he wasn't even in complete control of his faculties! What if he had killed an innocent? How would he have lived with himself?

After a moment, he looked into his wife's eyes and said, "You didn't touch it, I hope."

While Dalton claimed that the toxin wasn't infectious after it had run its course, Murdoch wasn't entirely convinced. And judging by what Julia said next, neither was Dalton.

"No, Mr. Dalton here was very particular about that. He made sure gloves were worn at all times and cloths were draped around my mouth and nose."

"And now detective," said Dalton, "I think it's high time we get you out of there. I'll call for a guard."

"No that won't be necessary," said Murdoch. They glanced at him quizzically. "I want to remain in here for a little while longer." He stared at Julia's stomach, "Better safe than sorry."

* * *

The next day, Murdoch and Julia went to visit all their friends and colleagues at the hospital. George seemed to be in the worst condition as he had been shot in the gut. Happily the bullet had been a through and through and done no permanent damage to his internal organs and the doctors were confident that he would make a full recovery. They learned from Ruby later that he thought he had been protecting her and the baby so he put himself in harms way. As to who had shot him, that would never be very clear since it had been utter chaos.

What Murdoch did learn later on was that Goldby had booby trapped the house. Once the gun fire had started, the other constables had come running and then through them, the whole street became infected. Luckily, it never progressed past that as Starry Road was fairly isolated.

They visited Myers last. Other than a nasty gash on his head, he appeared unscathed, if not agitated. When he wasn't allowed to have a cigar in his hand, he seemed totally out of sorts and didn't seem to know what to do with them.

After the pleasantries were over, he said, "Another evil plot thwarted, eh, detective?"

"Yes," he said grimacing, "though I can't say I'm very happy about our own military being the cause for it."

"Every country has it's fair share of evil, detective. Why should Canada be any different?" He had a point but didn't care to admit it but Myers perceived his dilemma regardless. "Love of country, there's nothing quite like it."

"No, I suppose not."

He held out his hand, "Let us hope the next disaster doesn't come for many years."

"Yes," he said, taking it, "let us hope."

* * *

He was in his office writing up a report about the most unusual circumstances of the previous night. The more he wrote about it, the more he wondered at his abominable luck. Every time he turned around he seemed to be facing something even more horrifying than the last time. What was the world coming to when in the span of only a few days, his son had been kidnapped by a psychotic killer and an entire street had been subjected to a deadly fear toxin? These had been by far the most traumatic times of his life which was saying something given his rather illustrious career. It was times like this that he debated his role as a detective. Wasn't he better suited to something a little less insane? But then he recalled his fairly recent conversation with his mentor, father O'Connell, and knew that even if he tried to do something else, he would never be truly satisfied. He loved the thrill of solving the next puzzle too much to ever give it up. Besides that, he provided a service that few others could and the streets were much safer because of him. No, he would do this job until he was too old or else, he was killed. He hoped it would be the former one, especially considering the possibility of fathering a child but nothing was certain in this world.

It was then that he had a visitor at his door, interrupting his thoughts. A certain medium friend.

"Detective," she said gleefully, "I am so glad to see you alive and well!"

"I agree one hundred percent," he said smiling warmly at her.

"Did my vision help you?"

"In a manner of speaking." Her smile widened. And then to get off that topic he said, "I see you are on your own today."

She nodded. "I managed to convince Jakub that I was perfectly safe. I love the man but sometimes he's a little too demanding of my time...and nerves."

It was Murdoch's turn to nod. "So now what will you do? Will you stay in Toronto?"

Mrs. Novak was thoughtful for a moment. Then she said sadly, "No, I don't think so. I think we're about to wear out our welcome once more."

"That's a shame. I enjoy our time together, or at least when you aren't predicting my death." She smiled sheepishly at that. "Can you not get your husband to hide his ability a little better than he does?"

She smirked at that. "Believe me, detective, I have tried very hard but until someone actually gets hurt because of it, he will never see reason. Life would be a lot easier without him but it would also be unbearable for me. I'm afraid we are joined at the hip for the rest of our natural born lives...and maybe even beyond."

Murdoch smiled and said, "Yes, I am in the same boat as you I think."

With that thought in mind, he said goodbye to her and then headed home early in order to be with his family. And so it was that the Murdoch's were lazing beside the fire, Julia's head propped on his shoulder, and Ben sitting in her lap facing them. They had recently told him about the baby and he appeared fascinated by this concept.

"So there's a kid in there right now?" he asked staring awestruck at Julia's stomach.

"Yes, Ben," responded Julia for the third time.

"Boy, he must be real small!"

They laughed and Murdoch said, "That he is, son, that he is indeed."

"So when do I get to meet him?"

They shared a look and Julia said, "Not for a long time yet."

Ben appeared puzzled by this. "Is he shy?"

They laughed again. "No, son," said Murdoch, "he's just getting big and strong so he can impress his big brother."

"How do you know?" Ben exclaimed. "You can't even talk to him!"

They shared another look, this one full of sorrow. "All right, son, you are right, I don't know, but I like to think so. I pray so every day."

He looked back and forth at their expressions and said, "What's wrong? Why are you sad?"

How do you tell your child that there is the good possibility that his brother or sister will die? The answer is, you don't. Children shouldn't be burdened with such things and though Murdoch didn't like to lie to his son, this was one of those truths better left untold. So Murdoch abruptly changed the topic instead.

"Ben, you never did recite the alphabet for me. Why don't you do so now." Ben looked unsure, as if he knew what his father was doing.

"I'd very much like to hear," said Julia. "It would make me very happy."

Ben got over his indecision and his face lit up. "Okay, here goes!"

* * *

After a few more days had gone by, it became evident that Radley would never recover from his deplorable condition, the toxin had permanently altered his brain chemistry to that of complete insanity. The good news was that he was no longer infectious. Dalton had examined his blood and determined the toxin to no longer be active.

And so it was that the asylum workers came to take him away one slightly rainy Wednesday afternoon. Murdoch watched him being led away and couldn't help but feel more compassion towards him than ever before. At times Murdoch had wanted to strangle the man for being so unreasonable and making his job so difficult but now all he could think about was the funny little man who once ran into his bedroom and locked the door because he had seen a spider. Perhaps that wasn't the best example as he had witnessed similar phenomenons from others before. One thing was for certain, life would be much duller now that Radley was out of the picture and he grieved and prayed for the man then.

Murdoch continued to stand outside the precinct, letting the rain drip down his face like the tears he was not capable of shedding, until long after the carriage had vanished from view.

Someone interrupted his thoughts then. It was Higgins. He had just said something.

"I'm sorry, Henry, what was that?"

"Sir, I asked you if you would be free on Friday night to throw George a bachelor party."

Murdoch raised his eyebrows, completely incredulous. "He is still planning on getting married this Saturday?! In his condition?!"

Higgins smirked at his reaction and said, "Yes, sir, I tried to reason with him but he was having none of it."

Calming down a little he said, "And what of Ruby? Was she also not able to convince him otherwise?"

Higgins looked away briefly and said, "It is because of her that he feels he cannot postpone their upcoming nuptials."

Murdoch looked at him closely for a moment and said, "You know then."

"Yes, sir," he said uncomfortable.

"All right," said Murdoch without further hesitation, "I will do my best to be available...barring no imminent deaths take place."

"Thank you, sir, George will be very happy to hear that. I will go right now to inform him of this."

"I will come with. I haven't been to see him since the...accident. It's high time I do so again."

Higgins nodded and they headed towards the hospital. Unfortunately, before they got very far, constable Worseley caught up to them and said they were needed. They shared an impassive look knowing once again that something terrible had happened and all personal matters (and feelings) ceased to be of import. That was the nature of the job, he had never had any illusions about it and right now, he was just happy that he wasn't having _delusions_ because of it and hoped he never would again.


End file.
